


Fright Night

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 20:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13795590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Zelda takes Justin on a rather informal date. Zelda belongs to ZDusk.





	Fright Night

It had taken months for Zelda to convince Justin to set foot outside of his room. Even now, it had taken quite a few hours of coaxing to even convince him to put better clothes on and have a shower. He’d even needed a shave, which Zelda hadn’t counted on. But the straggly beard on his face, coupled with his pale skin and the dark circles under his eyes (not to mention his greasy hair), had all combined to create the image of a rather pathetic-looking man. And Zelda knew that he’d been through a hell of a lot, and appearance and personal hygiene were the last things on his mind, but she also knew that cleaning oneself up could do wonders for one’s self-confidence and happiness.

Now, she just had to convince him to set foot outside of his bedroom again.

“Justin, come on,” said Zelda after knocking again. 

“Why?” Justin called through the door. “You got me to shower, are you planning on taking me somewhere? You know I don’t wanna leave the stables right now.”

“I’m not going to take you anywhere,” said Zelda. “We’re just going downstairs to watch a movie.”

“We are? Then why the shower?” asked Justin, opening his door. Zelda gasped softly as the scent of cologne washed over her. But he was frowning, despite how handsome he looked. He’d dressed in a suit and tie, and his black hair was combed back, though the white streak still showed through.

“I-I…” Zelda stammered, her heart racing. All she could smell was him, all she could see was him.

“I thought we were going on a date,” said Justin, looking crestfallen, like a boy who’d just gotten rejected for prom.

“It can still be a date, if you want,” said Zelda with a shrug. “Y’know, just the two of us, a movie… n-not at the theatre in the city, not if you don’t want to go out in public, I’m sure you must have plenty of DVDs lying around here.”

“We do,” said Justin, nodding. “Or we could find something to watch on TV.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” said Zelda, nodding as she smiled.

“But you don’t look like you’re dressed for a date,” said Justin, looking at Zelda’s usual attire of black jeans, red shirt, and black jacket. She blushed, shifting from foot to foot. “If I’m dressed up, it’s only fair that you should be, too.”

“Alright,” said Zelda, but she smiled at him. At least he’d gotten his spark back, enough to make him want her to look good. “I’ll meet you downstairs when I’m dressed, that sound okay?”

“Yeah,” said Justin, nodding again. “Sounds good.” Zelda smiled at him and headed off to her bedroom in the Moorland inn, where she changed into a small red dress that she’d bought to go dancing at the disco once (until she’d learned that discos were not, in fact, formal dances). She also found a pair of low red heels, and some red earrings, just for good measure. Maybe she’d go on a real formal date with Justin one day, and she wouldn’t feel quite so silly wearing this.

But, when Zelda stepped into the living room and saw the look of shocked awe on Justin’s face, the feeling of foolishness vanished, and she blushed.

“Wow,” said Justin, walking over to her. “You look… wow.” He took her hands, and Zelda grinned as he kissed her cheek. “Sorry, I know a kiss is normally at the end of the date, but I just couldn’t help myself.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine,” said Zelda, giving him a smile. “Well, have you picked out a movie yet?”

“Well, you see, most of these movies aren’t mine,” said Justin as he walked over to a shelf that held various DVDs. “They’re my dad’s, and he’s a big fan of, well… horror movies.” Zelda paled, recoiling from the shelf of horror.

“Oh boy,” said Zelda. 

“What’s wrong?” asked Justin. 

“Yeah, I’m… not a big fan of horror movies,” said Zelda, rubbing her arm. “But, uh, hey, my friend Louisa has told me good things about this movie.” She selected one with the unassuming title of ‘IT’.

“Well, put it on,” said Justin, starting up the TV and DVD player. Zelda put the disc in, then sat down on the couch with the remote, Justin sitting next to her after turning the lights off. Zelda snuggled up next to him, smiling at him and taking his hand. It felt like a real movie date, even though they were just in Justin’s living room, dressed in all their finery. Zelda rested her head on Justin’s chest, and tried to concentrate on the movie.

And then, a kid got eaten by a clown. Justin and Zelda both screamed, Zelda a little louder than Justin, and huddled together, Zelda burying her head in her boyfriend’s chest as she trembled.

“God, the name of the author should’ve warned me,” Zelda muttered, slowly lifting her head and trembling.

“Isn’t Stephen King one of the best-known horror writers?” asked Justin. Zelda nodded.

“Yep, he sure is,” said Zelda. “Oh, I am gonna kill Louisa next time I see her.” Justin chuckled.

“I… kinda don’t mind so much,” said Justin, wrapping his arms around Zelda’s trembling form. Feeling his embrace, Zelda knew exactly why he didn’t mind so much. Even after everything that Justin had been through, he was still such a boy, wanting to cuddle his girlfriend even while he was shaking as much as she was.

As the movie progressed, Zelda began to detect the telltale signs of something scary about to happen. So, whenever the music changed or a red balloon appeared on the screen, she snuggled just that little closer to her boyfriend. When he inevitably flinched and hugged her closer, she felt warm and protected. And it was so good to have him wanting to take care of her, after so long of him moping about how he’d never be able to save or protect anyone. Though, to be perfectly honest, Zelda had envisioned the two of them watching a fairly different movie. A comedy, perhaps, maybe one that verged on romantic?

“Okay, maybe this isn’t so bad,” said Justin after a while. Zelda laughed.

“My ear is resting right over your heart, I can hear your heart racing,” said Zelda.

“How do you know that it’s not just my company?” asked Justin. That had Zelda glad for the darkened room, so that Justin wouldn’t see her blush. Though, he could probably feel it through his shirt.

“Can that be my excuse too?” asked Zelda. Justin chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

At last, the movie was over, and Zelda felt herself relax, even despite her position in Justin’s lap. Here, she was in easy kissing distance of him, which she quickly took advantage of. Justin returned the kiss, running his fingers through her short black hair.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” said Justin, drawing away a little to look at her by the dim glow of the TV.

“Yes, I’m sure our many shrieks of terror can attest to that,” said Zelda, and was delighted when Justin joined in on her laughter.

“Okay, so maybe it did scare me a bit, but it was a lot better with you here,” said Justin.

“Same here,” said Zelda, smiling. “I’m glad I managed to convince you to leave your room.”

“I’m glad you did too,” said Justin. “This was a pretty good date, all things considered. I’ll take you on a real one, one day.”

“I hope you do,” said Zelda, rubbing his arm. “I loved this.”

“Me too,” said Justin, still holding her gently in his arms. “Thank you.”

“Thank you for agreeing to it,” said Zelda.

“You know it wasn’t just for that,” said Justin.

“I know,” said Zelda, and kissed him gently. He didn’t need to say anything, or thank her. Him being alive and relatively well was thanks enough. All that she needed, anyway.


End file.
